Xiangqi

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Xiangqi board with pieces in their starting positions.
Players	2
Setup time	Under one minute
Playing time	Standard "home plays": around 30 minutes Blitz games: up to 10 minutes
Random chance	None
Skills required	Tactics, Strategy

Xiangqi

Traditional Chinese:

象棋

Simplified Chinese:

象棋

[show]Transliterations
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin:	xiàngqí
- Wade-Giles:	hsiang⁴-ch'i² [ listen]
Cantonese
- Jyutping:	zeong⁶ kei²

Xiangqi (Chinese: 象棋) is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. The first character 象 Xiàng here has the meaning "image" or "representational", hence Xiangqi can be literally translated as "representational chess". The game is sometimes called "elephant chess" after an alternative meaning of 象 as "elephant".

Harold James Ruthven Murray in his A History of Chess spelled its name as "Hsiang-k'i": see Standard Mandarin#The "ki-" sequence, and translates 棋 more generally as "game": "the image game" (or "the elephant game"); the meaning of 棋 may have shifted down the centuries.

The game represents a battle between two armies, with the object of capturing the enemy's "general" piece. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China. Distinctive features of Xiangqi include the unique movement of the pao ("cannon") piece, a rule prohibiting the generals (similar to chess kings) from facing each other directly, and the river and palace board features, which restrict the movement of some pieces.

Besides China and areas with significant ethnic Chinese communities, Xiangqi is also a popular pastime in Vietnam.

Rules of the game

Board

Xiangqi is a common pastime in Chinese cities such as Beijing

Xiangqi is played on a board that is 9 lines wide by 10 lines long. In a manner similar to the game Go (Wéiqí 圍棋), the pieces are played on the intersections, which are known as points. The vertical lines are known as files, while the horizontal lines are known as ranks.

Centered at the first through third ranks of the board is a square zone also mirrored in the opponent's territory. The three point by three point zone is demarcated by two diagonal lines connecting opposite corners and intersecting at the center point. This area is known as 宮 gōng, the palace or fortress.

Dividing the two opposing sides (between the fifth and sixth ranks) is 河 hé, the river. The river is often marked with the phrases 楚河 chǔ hé, meaning "Chu River", and 漢界 (in Traditional Chinese) or 汉界 (in Simplified Chinese) hàn jiè, meaning "Han border", a reference to the Chu-Han War. Although the river provides a visual division between the two sides, only a few pieces are affected by its presence: "soldier" pieces have an enhanced move after crossing the river, while "elephant" pieces cannot cross.

The starting points of the soldiers and cannons are typically marked with small crosses, but not all boards have these marks.

Play

The pieces start in the position shown in the diagram above. Which player moves first has varied throughout history, and also varies from one part of China to another. Some Xiangqi books state that the black side moves first; others state that the red side moves first. Also, some books may refer to the two sides as north and south; which direction corresponds to which color also varies from source to source. Generally, red goes first in most modern formal tournaments.^[1]

Each player in turn moves one piece from the point it occupies to another point. Generally pieces are not permitted to move through a point occupied by another piece. A piece can be moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, in which case the enemy piece is "captured" and removed from the board. A player cannot capture one of his own pieces. Pieces are never "promoted" (converted into other pieces), although the pawn/soldier is able to move sideways after it crosses the river.

Generally all pieces capture using their normal moves. Some pieces have special moves or capture moves, as described below.

"Checkmate!" (assuming the cannon is safe) Note that the horse is not actually needed for this to be checkmate.

The game ends when one player captures the other's general. When the general is in danger of being captured by the enemy player on his next move, the general is "in check" (將 (trad.) / 将 (simp.) jiāng. A check should be announced. If the general's player can make no move to prevent the general's capture, the situation is called "checkmate" (將軍 (trad.) / 将军 (simp.)).

Under some sets of rules, if the general is not actually taken for some reason, the other player does not lose and can continue playing.^{[citation needed]} Under other rules, it is sufficient to reach checkmate.

A player with no legal moves left loses. In Xiangqi, a player (often with material or positional disadvantage) may attempt to check or chase pieces in a way that the moves fall in a cycle, forcing the opponent to draw the game. The following special rules are used to make it harder to draw the game by endless checking and chasing (regardless of whether the positions of the pieces are repeated or not):

The side that perpetually checks with one piece or several pieces will be ruled to lose under any circumstances unless he or she stops the perpetual checking.
The side that perpetually chases any one unprotected piece with one or more pieces will be ruled to lose under any circumstances unless he or she stops the perpetual chasing. Chases by generals and soldiers are allowed however.^[2]
If one side perpetually checks and the other side perpetually chases, the perpetually checking side has to stop or be ruled to lose.
When neither side violates the rules and both persist in not making an alternate move, the game can be ruled as a draw.
When both sides violate the same rule at the same time and both persist in not making an alternate move, the game can be ruled as a draw.

Different sets of rules set different limits on what is considered "perpetual". For example, Club Xiangqi rules allow a player to check/chase six consecutive times using one piece, twelve times using two pieces, and eighteen times using three pieces before considering the check/chase a perpetual check/chase..^[2]

The above rules to prevent perpetual checking and chasing are popular, but they are by no means the only rules. There are a large number of confusing end game situations.^[3]

Pieces

The pieces are flat circular disks, each with a Chinese character on, sometimes engraved into the surface. The black pieces are marked with somewhat different characters from the corresponding white pieces; this practice may have originated in situations where there was only one material available to make the pieces from and no coloring material available to distinguish the opposing armies.

General

General and advisors

The generals are labelled with the Chinese character 將 (trad.) / 将 (simp.) jiàng (general) on the black side and 帥 (trad.) / 帅 (simp.) shuài (marshal) on the red side. Legend has it that originally the pieces were known as emperors, but when an emperor of China heard about the game, he executed two players for "killing" or "capturing" the emperor piece. Future players called them generals instead.

The general starts the game at the midpoint of the back edge (within the palace). The general may move one point either vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally. The general cannot leave the palace except to perform the "flying general" move.

If the two generals face one another on the same file with no other pieces between them, the "flying general" move can be made—one general moves across the board and captures the other.

Guard

The advisors (also known as guards or ministers, and less commonly as assistants, mandarins, or warriors) are labelled 士 shì ("scholar", "gentleman", "officer") for black and 仕 shì ("scholar", "official") for red. Rarely, sets use the character 士 for both colours.

The advisors start to the sides of the general. They move one point diagonally and may not leave the palace, which confines them to five points on the board. They serve to protect the general.

The advisor is probably derived from the mantri in Chaturanga, like the queen in Western chess.

Elephant

The elephants are labelled 象 xiàng (elephant) for black and 相 xiàng (minister) for red. They are located next to the advisors. These pieces move exactly two points diagonally and may not jump over intervening pieces. If an elephant is blocked by an intervening piece, it is known as "blocking the elephant's eye" (塞象眼). They may not cross the river; thus, they serve as defensive pieces

Because of an elephant's limited movement, it can be easily trapped or threatened. Typically the two elephants will be used to defend each other.

The Chinese characters for "minister" and "elephant" are homophones ( Listen) and both have alternative meanings as "appearance" or "image". However, both are referred to as elephants in the game.

Horse

The red horse may take the black horse, but the black horse cannot take the red horse because its movement is obstructed by another piece

Green moves are legal; red ones are illegal because another piece is obstructing the movement of the horse

The horses are labelled 馬 mǎ for black and 傌 mà for red in sets marked with Traditional Chinese characters and 马 mǎ for both black and red in sets marked with Simplified Chinese characters. Some traditional sets use 馬 for both colours. They begin the game next to the elephants. A horse moves one point vertically or horizontally and then one point diagonally away from its former position. It is important to note that the horse does not jump as the knight does in Western chess. Thus, if there were a piece lying on a point one point away horizontally or vertically from the horse, then the horse's path of movement is blocked and it is unable to move in that direction. Note, however, that a piece two points away horizontally or vertically or a piece a single point away diagonally would not impede the movement of the horse. A blocked horse is also known as "hobbling the horse's leg" (蹩馬腿). The diagram on the left illustrates the horse's movement.

Since horses can be blocked, it is sometimes possible to trap the opponent's horse. It is possible for one player's horse to attack the opponent's horse while the opponent's horse is blocked from attacking, as seen in the diagram on the right.

Chariot

The chariots are labelled 車 for black and 俥 for red in sets marked with Traditional Chinese characters and 车 for both black and red in sets marked with Simplified Chinese characters. Some traditional sets use 車 for both colors. All of these characters are pronounced as jū. The chariot moves and captures vertically and horizontally any distance, and may not jump over intervening pieces. The chariots begin the game on the points at the corners of the board. The chariot is considered to be the strongest piece in the game.

The chariot is sometimes known as the "rook" by English speaking players, since it is like the rook in Western chess. Chinese players (and others) often call this piece a "car", since that is one modern meaning of the character 車.

Cannon

The long-range threat of the cannon

The cannons are labelled 砲 pào for black and 炮 pào for red. They are homophones.

砲 pào means a "catapult" for hurling boulders. 炮 pào means "cannon". The 石 shì radical of 砲 means 'stone', and the 火 huǒ part of 炮 means 'fire'. However, both are referred to as cannon in the game.

In Xiangqi, each player has two cannons. The cannons start on the row behind the soldiers, two points in front of the horses. Cannons move like the chariots, horizontally and vertically, but capture by jumping exactly one piece (whether it is friendly or enemy) over to its target. When capturing, the cannon is moved to the point of the captured piece. The cannon may not jump over intervening pieces if not capturing another piece. The piece which the cannon jumps over is called the 炮臺 (trad.) / 炮台 (simp.) pào tái ("cannon platform"). Any number of unoccupied spaces may exist between the cannon and the cannon platform, or between the cannon platform and the piece to be captured, including no spaces (the pieces being adjacent) in both cases. Cannons are powerful pieces at the beginning of the game when platforms are plentiful, and are used frequently in combination with chariots to achieve checkmate. Although cannons can be exchanged for a horse immediately from their starting positions, this is usually not favorable, in part due to the superiority of cannons over horses at the beginning of the game. The two cannons, when used together, can form a check that cannot be stopped easily. As they line up in the attack against the opposing general, the back cannon checks the general while the front cannon, serving as the platform, prohibits blocking for the opposing side. The opposing side can only move the general, capture the back cannon, or block between the two cannons.

Soldier

Each side has five soldiers, labelled 卒 zú (pawn/private) for black and 兵 bīng (soldier) for red. Soldiers are placed on alternating points, one row back from the edge of the river. They move and capture by advancing one point. Once they have crossed the river, they may also move (and capture) one point horizontally. Soldiers cannot move backward, and therefore cannot retreat; however, they may still move sideways at the enemy's edge.

The soldier is sometimes known as the "pawn" by English speaking players, since it is similar to that piece in Western chess.

Approximate relative values of the pieces

Piece	Point(s)
Soldier before crossing the river	1
Soldier after crossing the river	2
Advisor	2
Elephant	1 - 2
Horse	4 - 5
Cannon	4 - 5
Chariot	9

These advisory values do not take into account positional advantages. For example, the chariot at the corner in the beginning of the game is not very useful, but it can be moved to points where it affects the game much more, for example near the center of the board or the opponent's palace. Also, the value of a cannon drops as the game goes on due to having fewer platforms for use in capturing, while the value of the horse increases slightly due to fewer obstructions. Despite the chariot having the highest value of 9 points, it should be pointed out that often, players will, at certain game scenarios, value a cannon/horse on or exceeding the level of a chariot due to the piece's unique attack style. What's left on the board is also important to value of piece. For example, in a mid or late game, if red still has two chariots and black has one advisor left, that advisor is very valuable for black because it is very easy for red to checkmate with two chariots if black does not have an advisor.

Equipment

One player's pieces are usually painted red (or, less commonly, white), and the other player's pieces are usually painted black (or, less commonly, blue or green).

Xiangqi pieces are represented by disks marked with a Chinese character identifying the piece and painted in a colour identifying to which player the piece belongs. Modern pieces are usually made with plastic, though some sets use pieces made of wood, and more expensive sets may use pieces made of jade. In more ancient times, many sets were simple unpainted woodcarvings; thus, to distinguish between the pieces of the two sides, most corresponding pieces use characters that are similar but vary slightly between the two sides.

The oldest Xiangqi piece found to date is in Henan Provincial Museum - a 俥 piece.

In mainland China, most sets still use traditional characters for the pieces.

Notation

There are several types of notation used to record Xiangqi games. In each case the moves are numbered and written with the same general pattern.

(first move) (first response)
(second move) (second response)

. .

It is clearer but not required to write each move pair on a separate line.

Notational system 1

The book The Chess of China^[4] describes a notational system of absolute positional references in which the ranks of the board are numbered 1 to 10 from closest to farthest away, followed by a digit 1 to 9 for files from right to left. Both values are relative to the moving player. Moves are then indicated as follows:

[piece name] ([former rank][former file])-[new rank][new file]

Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as:

炮 (32)–35, 馬 (18)–37

Notational system 2

A notational system partially described in A Manual of Chinese Chess^[5] and used by several computer software implementations describes positions in relative terms as follows:

[single-letter piece abbreviation][former file][operator indicating direction of movement][new file, or in the case of purely vertical movement, number of ranks traversed]

The file numbers are counted from each player's right to each player's left.

In case there are two identical pieces in one file, symbols + (front) and - (rear) are used instead of former file number. Direction of movement is indicated via an operator symbol. A plus sign is used to indicate forward movement. A minus sign or hyphen is used to indicate backwards movement. A dot or period or equal sign is used to indicate horizontal or lateral movement. If a piece (such as the horse or elephant) simultaneously moves both vertically and horizontally, then the plus or minus sign is used rather than the period.

Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as:

C2.5 H8+7

The single letter piece abbreviations are

Piece	Initial(s)
Advisor	A
Cannon	C
Chariot	R*
Elephant	E
General	G
Horse	H
Soldier	S

^{*for Rook, because using C would conflict with the letter for Cannon}

Xiangqi

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